Right now, we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is "down" to 5.6%. The cheerleading for this number is deafening. The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.
None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed. That's right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news -- currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast "falling" unemployment.
There's another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you're an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 -- maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn -- you're not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. Few Americans know this.
Yet another figure of importance that doesn't get much press: those working part time but wanting full-time work. If you have a degree in chemistry or math and are working 10 hours part time because it is all you can find -- in other words, you are severely underemployed -- the government doesn't count you in the 5.6%. Few Americans know this.
There's no other way to say this. The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie....
It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy
Perhaps I'm slow here, but, I thought this perceived piece of stats was old news....as the numbers were
coming down from the "highs", the financial figureheads were SCREAMING about numbers being manipulated/misreported. NOTHING has altered that scenario. It is STILL the same sad summary that you have posted....the UNemployed are NOT being represented accurately and those that are a "working" are doing so at several jobs just to make ends meet...ONE of the reasons that the feds have NOT raised rates. It would create chaos.
homeagain wrote: Perhaps I'm slow here, but, I thought this perceived piece of stats was old news....as the numbers were
coming down from the "highs", the financial figureheads were SCREAMING about numbers being manipulated/misreported. NOTHING has altered that scenario. It is STILL the same sad summary that you have posted....the UNemployed are NOT being represented accurately and those that are a "working" are doing so at several jobs just to make ends meet...ONE of the reasons that the feds have NOT raised rates. It would create chaos.
So to protect the idiot wards of the government from chaos, we need to be lied to? I think it is to protect the idiot elected officials from the results of the truth in their fraudulent acts.
Oh I never have any faith in statistics from the media or government, but my gut feeling in the trenches is the jobs are finally coming back, lots of help wanted signs and just more economic activity at restaurants etc, compared to 5 years ago. I've seen a little more recent signs of turnover at work, indicating competitive hiring going on, people jumping ship more than before.
If you want to be, press one. If you want not to be, press 2
Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
I have no doubt that the economy has improved, which it always does eventually, but the rosy picture painted does not reflect reality and I think it's more important for the uninformed to know the truth. If a Republican was in the WH right now and the public was being told how great the unemployment rate was, it would be irresponsible for Democrats to let Republicans pat themselves on the back over an economic mirage. Feels like the old "mission accomplished" moment.
It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy
It's a Big Lie. Anytime the definition of a number is changed, and then comparisons made with numbers calculated under the old definition, it's a lie. Math is an exact science. 1+1=2, unless you change the definition of 1,2,+ or =.
"Whatever you are, be a good one." ~ Abraham Lincoln